Rachel (00:02)
Like think about who you follow on social media. How many corporate accounts are you following? Like are you following Georgia Pacific? Are you following Kimberly Clark? No. But what you might be following is like Charles Koch if he's posting something interesting or, I mean, Elon Musk is a perfect example. Like, like him or hate him. He is amassed followers and he's basically driven this brand by being this chaotic, authentic figure.
And I'm not saying go out there and be at Elon Musk, because that's probably not, most likely not your brand, brand that you're trying to adopt. But there is something to be said about putting yourself out there and creating content that connects.
Ben Ard (01:07)
Welcome back to another episode of Content Amplified. Today I'm joined by Rachel. Rachel, welcome to the show.
Rachel (01:12)
Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited to be here and chat with you.
Ben Ard (01:15)
Yeah, Rachel, this is going to be fun. This subject is something we actually have never covered on the podcast today. I'm excited for this perspective and I agree so much with it I love how you call it out and describe it. But before we dive into that subject, tell us a little bit about yourself, work background history. Let's let the audience get to know you.
Rachel (01:35)
Yeah, of course. Short and sweet. I'm a journalist by trade, but didn't necessarily like the direction that the journalism industry was going to. So I pivoted into public affairs, worked with the government a little bit, and then ultimately landed in ⁓ both B2C and B2B marketing. And I'm actually just about to launch my own consulting business, Gallant Creative. So be on the lookout. If you follow me on LinkedIn, you'll have some updates there.
But ultimately my biggest passion is storytelling. I think that's just at the root of everything that drives me, passion-wise, professionally, personally. I think it's kind of just the thread that ties all of humanity together. And I love talking about it. So I'm excited to talk a little bit about it today.
Ben Ard (02:19)
I love it. This is so cool. So with storytelling and I do agree. love you talking about that. So it ties us all together. Storytelling is at the core of everything. but you have this cool perspective on maybe how we should do storytelling and everyone wants these high polished, high production, multimillion dollar commercial like setups, but you have a little bit of different take that maybe now is not the time to do that. And maybe doing these low effort.
low fidelity versions might be better. What's kind of your take on that?
Rachel (02:49)
So I feel like I have a pretty unique perspective because I'm right in between millennial and gen Z. So it's like, I understand kind of this, this legacy polish, you know, like I always think of like the YouTube era of millennials where everything is like highly produced, highly edited. And some of my last corporate jobs, was all about like this strict brand identity and everything has to follow this rule book. But one thing that I've just always found so fascinating is how much of a 180
Gen Z has done with that. You you look at things like TikTok or even like a smaller social media like Be Real, which if you're not familiar with Be Real, you basically, it's like Snapchat, except you take a, you get like a notification every day and you take a picture of something you're seeing and then yourself. Like it's very raw. You get one take for the day and then you send it to all your friends. And that's probably one of the more lesser known like popular social medias around Gen Z folks. And also interestingly enough, they are still using Snapchat.
which I don't feel like anyone my age and above is using Snapchat. ⁓
Ben Ard (03:48)
yeah, I think people
my age would be like, what in the world is that? Yeah.
Rachel (03:51)
Literally, because I still
have Snapchat, but I have maybe two people in there at this point. So, and I've used Be Real before and it's just like, it's fascinating because it's all about where you are in this current moment and kind of just, just having no filter. And I think we see that a lot with even, you know, who's become popular in like media, you know, and it's
you know, even though he's controversial, like Elon Musk is somebody who speaks without a filter and he's one of the most talked about, you know, public figureheads. I feel like, you know, some of the, like Gen Z, you know, even someone like a, what's her name, Renee Rapp or Billie Eilish who are kind of just more, you know, just themselves in the public eye. it's not about, or Chappellrone is probably the best example of that. Someone who has zero media training.
every time she talks, it's like, nobody coached her on that. Like, she's just herself. And she's one of the most popular figureheads of like Gen Z because they're just craving that, you know, authenticity because I think, you know, a lot of their developmental years were spent during COVID where things were a little bit more, you know, about doing the right thing and kind of like holding it back. And you're not having as many
know, organic connections and stuff like that. And so I think that's been like a big driver towards this trend we're seeing.
Ben Ard (05:10)
Yeah, that makes perfect sense. So when you translate that to business, does that mean we start taking, what was that movie where they ran out into the woods and had the shaky cameras like the scary movie? I don't remember what it was, but, ⁓ do we, do we start doing stuff like that? Like, how is it actually authentic to who we are? Is it more behind the scenes? What, does that really mean on like a business side of things?
Rachel (05:20)
That's right.
Yeah, it's kind of a fine line to walk because you do want to focus on like retaining, you know, some of the older generations, especially if that's like your primary audience base. But you also kind of have to start making the transition to attracting some of the younger folks. And probably my favorite way I've seen this done. And, you know, I always like I keep like a running list of ads I see that stick out to me. It's like most ads, I feel like I'm very
not impulsive when it comes to ads. it's, takes a lot for me to notice one or to take action on it. And anytime that I notice one, have a list of ads that I noticed. And then have a list of ads that I actually take action on. And the ones that always stick out to me are the iPhone note ads where it's literally somebody just wrote like, Hey, you have this problem. Like we have a solution. like, you know, three bullets of like what it is. And I've seen it like,
a couple of different, it's usually what kind of startups take this approach and it always sticks out to me. Like those are the ones I always read because there's this familiarity to me, you know, and cause it's like I've used my notes app. And so when I see that I'm just like, like it almost, it's like this weird psychology that makes you go like, that's familiar. Like I don't feel like I'm being sold to right now. Like that's, if I think about it specifically in my own perspective, the thing I am really fatigued on is
Just information overload in general. Like if I see an ad with like more than a hundred characters, I'm so I think like, I'm just like, don't, there's no way that you're solving my problem if you have to explain it this much. So information overload and then also just not feeling like I'm being sold to. Like I think a lot of the more popular, I guess like content creators, like I always, I admire Dan Co a lot because I feel like he's really,
created this and if you're not familiar with Danco, he is like a big creator across like every single platform. Like he has a social media empire and his whole thing is creative entrepreneurship and finding your purpose and figuring out how to help the world while also monetizing it and creating financial freedom to yourself. What I always notice about his content is its simplicity.
And it's honesty. he's like, and like, I follow his newsletter at the bottom of his newsletter. He's like, if you didn't find this newsletter helpful, please unsubscribe here. He's like, I do not want to be in your inbox. If you, if this was unbearable for you to read and stuff like that, because I'm not going get to the end. I'm like, I know that wasn't really for me. And then I see that and I'm like, he doesn't care if I'm here or not. Like that's not even if it's obviously his goal is to sell to us, you know, but there's just this honesty and thinking about.
Ben Ard (07:55)
Yeah.
Rachel (08:02)
you know, maybe like a bigger brand, like one that always sticks out to me that's having a huge moment is Rode Beauty, which is Hailey Bieber's beauty brand. And they just got accepted or, whatever the process is, like they're being sold at Sephora now, you know, it kind of went from just that was her brand. She started up, you could only get it on her website. And now, you know, they're going to be at one of the biggest makeup beauty retailers in the world. And if you go onto their website right now, it is literally just like selfies of
of Hailey Bieber like using her own products and you're like, yeah, I actually do believe that you use it, you know, cause it's like, it looks great on you. mean, maybe she does, maybe she doesn't, but the fact that you're seeing just these like raw images and you're just like, man, that's pretty cool. Or like, I, like, I feel like Apple does a great job of that where it's, they're showing footage, like they're probably filming all of that on the iPad, the iPhone, and it's probably a little trade secret whether they are or not.
Ben Ard (08:52)
Yeah.
Rachel (08:57)
But I believe that they are willing to buy into this because the ad is so just like raw and authentic, you know?
Ben Ard (09:03)
Yeah, all their keynotes they actually have at very end shot on iPhone edited on Mac. Yeah.
Rachel (09:07)
Yeah,
exactly. Like they're using it and it's just, yeah, like I would say that's the most important thing to do as a business as, know, and it kind of goes back to that sales marketing relationship is it, it's how can we create, like if I were to give it, you know, if I were in your boardroom right now, my advice would be, how do you simplify marketing? How do you close that sales funnel and make it less about selling and more about helping and connecting and
And this one's a little bit more woo woo, but creating a vibe. Cause it's like, that's usually what draws me in is like, I see a vibe and I'm like, that's, you know, familiar, like that's authentic. And then I read it and I'm like, that's a really simple to understand. I know what the problem is that you're trying to solve. have this problem. And then the sales funnel comes in where you click and it's just easy. It's easy to use. don't feel like I'm having to like give all my information or, know, stuff like that.
Ben Ard (10:01)
Do feel like it's really coming from the idea that people don't want to really interact with brands, but they want to interact with other people? Like I think some of the best brands that are really taking on this lo-fi effort, they do it because it really is their cell phone and it's, people talking. Yeah, they're, they're in a business. They're a part of a business, but it's more like, I connect to Rachel. connect to Ben.
Okay. I now I have some level of trust towards the business. Do you feel like it's that desire to connect with people and not businesses?
Rachel (10:29)
100%.
Like think about who you follow on social media. How many corporate accounts are you following? Like are you following Georgia Pacific? Are you following Kimberly Clark? No. But what you might be following is like Charles Koch if he's posting something interesting or, I mean, Elon Musk is a perfect example. Like, like him or hate him. He is amassed followers and he's basically driven this brand by being this chaotic, authentic figure.
And I'm not saying go out there and be at Elon Musk, because that's probably not, most likely not your brand, brand that you're trying to adopt. But there is something to be said about putting yourself out there and creating content that connects.
Like to me, in the past, I think these like polished, you know, people craved like polished things and they're like, I want professionality. Whereas now I feel like we're kind of pivoting into probably.
I would call it like parasocial relationship marketing almost where people want to like, I feel like it sounds so bad, but I'm like, they're almost starved for connection, you know? And they want to create like these parasocial relationships, you know, with these people, with these brands where they feel like, I don't know, like, I feel like I'm a part of this, you know? And I think being, you know, having more brand ambassadors,
you know, really simplifying your marketing and focusing more about connecting with people than you are like selling to them or whatever is going to be the just the biggest game changer for you. And it's, feel like you'll thank yourself later because you're taking a lot of like rigidity and complicatedness, know, out of your, out of your marketing plan.
Ben Ard (12:04)
No, I love that. Okay. So I'm in a business and I am hearing this podcast and I'm thinking to myself, we need more of that. Like we need more authenticity. We're too polished per se and Polish is not a bad thing. And that's great from the brand perspective, but I want to get the employees involved. I want to get people to really be on the forefront and have them get to know us.
Where do you start? do you, is your marketing department walking around with their iPhone or are you encouraging people to post on their own socials? What are some techniques to kind of start breaking into that space?
Rachel (12:35)
Oh, absolutely. I am all about like the companies that I have loved working with the most have always been ones that have prioritized mutually beneficial relationships with their employees. So I think and I've done this in the past and it's always been just like a wild and just fun success. And that is creating like brand ambassador programs within your company. So because to me, it's not just about
creating like this army of minions at your company that's like, you need to be posting about XYZ Corp, know, 20 times a week, like blah, blah, blah. It's like, no, you should create a program. I've done this before and it was so much fun because it's about, and I have to give a shout out to my current company, Jackson Healthcare, because they do a really good job of this. They are all about, yes, we have our company values, but you need to have your own individual values. And so the way of
I like to run these kind of like internal brand ambassador programs. Though I feel like there needs to be a more expansive word for it is let's figure out how we can get you posting about things that you like. it's, you know, maybe every fifth post you're shouting out like the company or whatever, but really we just want to create this cadence where you become a thought leader in the
you have to kind of get your employees to buy into this because it's if they feel like if it's another, just like responsibility and they're like, I have to like go on and post about this, you know, cause it's like, maybe they're not passionate.
about the company. Like obviously it's ideal if you have employees that are passionate about your company, but I don't think folks are going to be passionate about the company until they feel like you're investing in them too. So that would be my biggest thing when you're doing it is not just creating a, you know, social media ambassador program where the goal is just pushing your agenda. It's let's think about, you know, your role, where you want to go.
and what you like to talk about and how do we find the intersection of that? Like that's how you create sustainable results is figuring out what motivates people and what you, you know, ideally need to succeed and finding that intersection and figuring out a way to make a mutually beneficial program. Like that's why influencer programs work well, because it's mutually beneficial, you know, and it's the influencers are getting paid, they're pushing the product, they're making great content, et cetera.
It's a little more complicated when you're doing it internally where you might not have the room for those like monetary incentives. But the way to do that is to motivate people intrinsically. And that's always worked for me is it's like, hey, we just want you to post and like find a way to promote our company within that posting scheme. But we also want this to be about you and your personal development.
Ben Ard (15:14)
I love that. Well, and
correct me if I'm wrong and we're running out of time, but when it comes down to it, I feel like there is a trend when it comes to businesses that the business leaders need to be.
I don't know, experts in the field that the business operates so that their audience is actually in that field. So if you start a company in healthcare, you know, it might not be a bad idea to have at least a few people there that are healthcare influencers, people that are in that space that have the accreditation and the validity to talk about those things and then to really encourage them to do so.
And everyone else of the business, they may not have to be those people that have these networks inside of the industry, but at least they can talk to like their experience working at the company, the things that they love about it. And those kinds of things, employees that love working for the companies that they're at, it shows potential customers. people love working here. I want to work with a company where the employees love working there. But I feel like, I mean, a lot of the examples you just shared about.
Rachel (16:14)
Mm-hmm.
Ben Ard (16:18)
All of these influencers and people doing really well, they have a following or they are at least an interesting person in that space. And then they start a business in that space. And I feel like that is kind of a trend that if your founder isn't an actual like person in that industry that can talk to that industry or at least become someone that's a, an influencer in that industry, it's going to be really tough.
Rachel (16:40)
seriously. My last company that I worked at, the strongest aspect of their sales pipeline was that the CEO was a huge figure on LinkedIn. She was constantly getting invited to be a keynote speaker. I want to say I'd have to review the numbers, but at one point, 60 %
of new clients that were coming in. It might've been 70, it might've been more than that at some point, it varied month to month. But at point it was like 60 to 70 % of new clients that were coming down the pipeline were, I saw so-and-so speaking at Health and I loved her, what she had to say. Clearly this is a company that's ahead of the trends or whatever. I'd love to work with you, I have this problem. I feel like the future of Zales is all about how do you draw people to you?
And ultimately that's going to be through people, you know, like it's like, ⁓ is a perfect example. did a, challenge on LinkedIn where I was like, I'm going to post every single day for 21 days and just like, see what happens, like get discoveries. Part of it was getting invited on this podcast, you know, which I thought was so cool. Like that's if you would need like a personal example of like, should you be utilizing LinkedIn? Should you be creating like a personal brand?
Ben Ard (17:45)
Ha
Rachel (17:53)
Yes, you will. Cause I did it for 21 days and saw amazing results. And another thing I want to share from that too, cause it's, I liked what you were talking about with, you know, not everyone at the company needs to be this like industry expert out of every single post I did, the ones that performed and they performed four times higher than anything else. Like I would post, you know, more like detailed kind of nuance, technical marketing things or like brand or whatever my two highest performing posts. And it wasn't even close.
were things where I was talking about my personal experience and my personal journey with, you know, my last post where I talked about the challenge and what I learned from it. And the first post where I was like, you know, hey, I'm like trying to figure out this aspect of my career and develop myself personally. People love that stuff. So what I'd love to see more with, because I think tech founders are pretty good about doing this or I've seen it.
being better as they'll talk about their experience. Like, Hey, I started this company and you know, I want to share like what I've learned with this and what it's like to be a manager, like blah, blah, blah. But I'd love to see that more in the corporate space too. Cause I think there's a lot of like taboos where it's like, Oh, you know, you need to have this like way about you and like a corporate space. And I actually did a post about this that did really well where I talked about, I think we need to at this point, redefine what professional means because to me,
Ben Ard (19:04)
Yep.
Rachel (19:13)
⁓ I know as somebody who's kind of in that millennial Gen Z era, the leaders that I admire the most are the ones that I feel like are authentic and clear about what their goals and having those goals align with their like personal goals too. Like I love the president of my company. out to Shelly Pavone. I think she is so brilliant. Like she just absolutely balances, does the perfect balancing act of like
knowing when to be professional while never sacrificing being herself. And I think that is so rare. And if you haven't started developing that, absolutely do that. And I think the best way to develop that is to start putting yourself out there and seeing just this positive feedback of, hey, everyone wants to see this too, you know?
Ben Ard (19:58)
I love that. That's so cool. Well, Rachel, we have run out of time. These episodes are short on purpose, but thank you. This has been amazing. I have loved this episode. I love the authenticity. I love the ideas. Even during that episode, my brain was turning thing. Okay, we need to do a better job of this and all of that kind of fun stuff for anyone who wants to reach out and connect with you online. How and where can they find you?
Rachel (20:19)
Rachel Marie Grace on LinkedIn is the best way to find me. you liked any of the ideas and you need any help, keep an eye out for Gallop Creative, because that's coming soon too.
Ben Ard (20:22)
we will have the link in the notes as well.
Perfect is the website live or pending coming soon? What does it look like?
Rachel (20:33)
in development. We'll be live before the end of the year though.
Ben Ard (20:36)
Perfect. Love it. Well, Rachel, again, thank you so much for the insights. Thank you for the time. Really do appreciate it.
Rachel (20:42)
Thank you, this was so lovely and I'm excited to rewatch the episode and maybe cringe a couple of times at myself. Alright, thanks.
Ben Ard (20:47)
Well, I appreciate it.
